The Vague Cadet
by YourSimpleWallflower
Summary: It's over. . . after all of these years we've managed to survive, came the day where the Rockets made a return to our world. The ones that were always defeated, yet never gave in . . . they've finally won. They've taken over, and we have nothing left but to wonder, "Where is he? Where is our hero, now?"


**Chapter 1.**

Safe, Secure, and Stupid.

* * *

"Surrender, Pauline! You know you will never overpower me!"

"NO! You can't do this to me!" I cried, backing up against the wall. I could feel my lungs heaving as I started to get more and more stressed. I knew exactly what he was capable of, but I wasn't going to let my fate be the same as Hellen's! "I'll do whatever you want! J-just don't do it!"

The evil Midget Overlord drew closer, and more pressure surrounded me every time he took a step. Everyone was always intimidated by him, with his Snorlax pajama pants, the sparkly purple beanie covering his head, to the two swirly lightbulbs he had bulging out of his chest where his moobs were suppose to be.

"Oh, I'm _going_ to do it!" he shouted, making the sky rumble as he held up his magical celery stick. "FROM NOW ON, YOU SHALL NO LONGER BE PAULINE THE GANGSTER, BUT PAULINE THE THE FOOT-RUBBER!"

"Nooo! You CAN'T change me! This is who I am!" I screamed, falling onto my knees so that I was exactly his height, and started begging. "Please! I'll do anything! Just don't make me rub your ugly chicken feet!"

"Hmmm. . . well, fine then! If you wish to stay a gangster. . . then you must get rid of all the others!"

"WHAT?!" I gasped, shocked. "B-but-"

"But what?" the Midget Overlord rasped."You think that staying a gangster will help you? Pleh! I'LL RID THE WORLD OF YOU GANGSTERS IF IT'S THE LAST THING I EVER DO!"

"NO!" I screeched, panic overwhelming me so much that I just lunged forward and shoved the Overlord over. Letting out the girliest, "yeep," ever, the midget spun and landed on his chest, making both of the lightbulbs on him to burst into shards. I instantly scrambled to stand back up, and looked down as the Overlord cried and whelped in agony.

"M-muh, my light-bloobs," he sniffled as blood trickled from his nose. "Y-you monster. . ."

"Where's Hellen?" I demanded. "What did you do with her?"

"Th-they're all in my dungeon. . . n-nawt that wou'll even find it."

"What's that suppose to mea-"

Right before I could finish my sentence, though, the evil Midget Overlord pulled out his celery wand and spread peanut-butter all over it, and once I watched him take a bite, he was gone.

"No! Come back here you fat moobless freak!" I cried, running forwards out the door to the edge of the building. "Come baaaaa-"

In a short second, my eyes opened up just to see that it was still dark in the room. Lifting my head up a bit from my pillow, I peered down past my feet over to the wall where the window was. Noticing that it was still night, I sighed and layed my head back again to stare up at the ceiling. Great. . . just great! Now I was never going to find out how that dream ends! _Stupid cliffhangers, _I thought, closing my eyes and pulling my bed sheets tighter. A part of me wanted to get up to see what time it was, but then again. . . it _did_ feel all warm and comfy all snuggled up like this. Why let all this coziness go to waste, right?

Since the power of my bed's snugness was super-effective on me, I decided just wait like this, and hopefully even manage to fall asleep again. As I rolled over on my left side though, I looked across the room at Hellen's bed and realized she wasn't there at all. A bit confused, I sat up and looked around, just to see that she wasn't even in the dorm.

For a short moment, I just thought she was off hiding somewhere, but then I remembered; _nobody _hid in their _own room _in the middle of the night!

_Errg, renob! _I thought. Wait. . . was it even close to midnight? _When did she actually leave? _I wondered, climbing out of my bed and walking over to my desk in the corner by the window, and I reached onto one of the shelves nearby to grab my alarm clock. Pulling it down, I looked to see what the time wa-

**1:31 AM?! **Where the heck was she?

Setting the electric alarm clock down onto my desk, I instantly grabbed a hold of the official Cadet sweatshirt-jacket-thingy (with a solid red, "**R**," imprinted on the front) and zipped it over my white tanktop. Ignoring my shoes and boots, I just decided to head out bear-foot. Odds were I was going to run into her at some point. She couldn't have left the school, after all. I mean, what kind of a student makes plans for ONE in the BLASTING MORNING?

_She's probably just stealing from the Lounge again_, I told myself.

Hellen was my bestie and my roommate, and I was use to her habit of sneaking out foods and snacks at random times. Most of the time I'd actually be helping her out on her little food quests, but it wasn't really of a hobby for me as it was to her. Just to make sure, though, I might as well head out to go look for her.

Creaking open the door, I peeked outside, and felt my eyes instantly wince a bit as a quick reaction to the light. Taking a small white scrunchie I remembered leaving in my jacket, I decided to put my hair up in a low side-ponytail for now, just encase anyone saw me then they wouldn't notice my bed-head too much. My muscles felt a bit tense openning up the door, but I managed to slide through once I had it open enough. By now my eyes were starting to adjust.

As many times as I've had to do it before, nothing ever changed. It was still the most paranoid thing to do. It was crazy how suspenseful it can be just to walk around when everyone else is asleep. _Especially _in a_ hallway!_

With every little step that I took, I heard a small thump and would get petrified thinking that someone was going to come bursting through their door and notice me. Not to mention that the elevator was at the very end, since Hellen and I _coincidentally _got put on the other side.

Once I'd finally reached the end of the hall (without causing too much racket) I waited until I heard the sound of the bell ring. After the doors slid open, I walked in and turned around to wait, leaning my back against the rail on the wall. I listened to our school's theme song play as elevator music, and sang the lyrics in my head along with it. Luckily, it only took a few seconds before the doors opened again.

Wait. . . not lucky. Didn't that mean the elevator was stopping on the first floor instead of the base?!

I watched the doors open with a bit of confusion and nervousness at the same time. What Cadet from the first floor would be awake at this time?

That was when the doors revealed somebody that wasn't even a student here. Let alone somebody I recognized!

"Who are you?" I stammered as the man walked into the elevator, and stood right beside me as the doors shut again. Judging by his uniform, he definitely didn't look like some random bumb off the streets, but at the same time something about him frightened me. He stood stiff; a tall fit man with short ruffled black hair and hazel eyes. There was no, "R," on him, just a smooth white jacket and black pants, complete with boots.

"I'm the new security around here. . ." he chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"Oh. . . we've, got security now?" I mumbled, feeling a bit uncomfortable. Nobody told me we were going to have security around here. . . besides, what kind of guard goes sneaking around the student's dorms? Shouldn't the security be guarding the entrance and the base? And I'd hate to be judging on looks but. . . this person did _not _look like security-type material. All of the security guards I've seen were either small men with flashlights, or buff men with their arms crossed.

This person was neither.

"Yeah, my name's Ivan. I make sure nobody gets into the base, and nobody gets out. Including the students."

_That must mean Hellen's still in here, _I thought, before coming to my senses again. This was only _one _security guard! There was no way he could be that good at doing his job!

"How, though? Our base is huge!"

"With four different Pokemon patrolling, I don't think it'll be much trouble," he said smoothly with a faint smirk on his face.

"Wait. . . you have actual Pokemon?" I asked.

Even though I had a handbook to each and every one, I'd still seen very few in my life. Us Cadets were trained to find out the locations of specific ones, capture them, and turn them in. Unless they were being used for specific purposes, any strong or rare ones were meant to be examined, studied, or used for a certain task if they had any beneficial factors. Any weaker or useless ones usually just wandered around pointlessly, but the ones that had more to promise had to be carefully handled. Being a Cadet, you were in one of those few groups who got to keep certain Pokemon for themselves.

I guess any working members of the R.C. got to have any, really.

"Well of course I do! Why? You've never seen a real Pokemon?"

"Not much," I admitted, shrugging my shoulders a bit. "I've studied them a lot, but I've never seen many in real life."

"Have you ever seen a Ditto?"

"No. . . that's the jell substance, isn't it?"

Ivan cast a glance at me, before giving a small chuckle again, and I suddenly felt embarrassed. There were over 650 Pokemon in the book, it wasn't like I was going to be able to memorize them all! Sure, maybe I did know about half of them by heart, but there wasn't really much use to that.

"It's formed of that kind of substance, yeah." Ivan replied, just as the elevator doors opened up again. Oddly enough, we both walked out at the same time, and both stopped in the middle of the lobby. "So, where are you heading to at a time like this?"

"Oh, just. . .er, looking for something," I answered, scanning the area for any sign of my best friend Hellen anywhere. At the same time, I was also making sure I wasn't going to look our new security guard in the eye. He was starting to seem nice, but something about him still set me off a bit. I didn't want him knowing that my best friend was out wandering around here too, it would just cause trouble.

"Well just tell me what you're looking for, and I'll find it," he said.

"You've only been a security guard since. . . what, like yesterday?"

"This night," he told me.

"Well, whatever," I huffed. I could tell that the fright I had of him before was starting to get pushed away. Right now I just wished Ivan would beat-it. . . yeah, that sounded a bit rude, but at the same time I didn't have time to talk to a security guard. "The point is that I've been here longer then you, I probably know the place better."

"Ohh, I see how it is," Ivan grunted carelessly. "You _seriously_ think you know more than me. Ha! So predictable for a school full of over-achievers."

. . . Wait, _excuse me? _

"What did you say?" I asked, even though I heard him very well. "Look, can't you just take off already and get back to your job-or-whatever? Just go back to your security work and leave me alone," I snapped straight at him.

After that, he just glared at me blankly, and I could feel my defenses rising up a bit. For some reason, he suddenly seemed a whole lot taller as he leaned forwards, and I actually began to feel scared again.

"Listen up you little priss. . . I don't care if there's a _shrine _dedicated to you!" he growled. "You're still a pathetic, stubborn little brat, and I won't put up with that."

"_Brat?!_"

"You heard me." He leaned back away from me, folding his arms. "Now get back to your dorm, before I have to _make_ you."

"You're a guard, _not _a babysitter!" I stated. "I'm leaving, whether you like it or not!"

"Oh, I don't think so. . ."

Right in a split-second, Ivan's hand jolted and grabbed a hold of my arm. My muscles were being crushed in his grip, and he walked past me towards the elevator again. "Aagh, get _off _of me!" I yelled, trying to pull away, but it was just making my arm hurt worse.

"Shut up, you're only making this worse for yourself." I glared at him, and saw a faint smirk creep up from his mouth.

The stupid jerk was enjoying this. . .

"Stop! I just wanted to use the bathroom!" I quickly lied, taking my other arm to try to push him away. "Just let me go already!"

Ivan paused, but still didn't loosen his grip. "Is that it?"

"_Yes! _That's all I came down here for!"

Finally, with one last tug on my arm I felt it slip out of the guard's hand. I looked to see him fold his arms again.

"Fine, but if I see you wandering _anywhere _else I-"

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" I interrupted him, hoping that he'd walk away now.

"_Anywhere else," _he repeated, taking a step closer to look down at me. "I'll have you taking online classes in you dorm, and don't think I won't notice. I'm able to be in five places at once, mind you."

_Five places? _

There was no way he could be serious. . . right?

"Now get lost," he muttered, before nudging his head in the direction of the bathrooms. "I have more important things to deal with."

"Sure, but take a chill-pill while you're at it," I grumbled, stepping away and turning my back to him as I walked through the Lobby. My arms folded across my chest, and once I reached the door to the girl's room, I peered over my shoulder to see him still standing there. . . staring at me like a statue not counting the foot he kept tapping on the ground.

_Uugh, fine! _I thought, before opening the door into the girl's room and stepping inside. What kind of security _was _this? He couldn't just _walk off _and start patrolling again, no, he had to _make sure _I was telling the truth . . . I mean, come on! What did he expect me to do, set the school on fire? _  
_

Letting out a faint huff, I leaned back against the white door and just scanned the room. The tiles on the ground were all red, black, and gray, and were arranged in the most random patterns. Over to the left were the nine stalls, with shining black doors and walls that made each one both sound _and _odor-proof, so that nobody outside would hear or smell anything. (The greatest advance in privacy since the lock was invented.) Then, over to the right there was a sink perfectly lined up across from each stall, with a mirror above them that stretched from one side of the wall to the other. At the other end of the bathroom across from the door was where five showers stood, with a white floor what was a foot above the regular one. The walls were a very pale shade of red, and there were no signs of damage what-so-ever around here.

So how long was I suppose to stay in here, anyways?

I spun to face the door again, and softly creaked it open to see that the jack-arse Ivan was finally gone.

A small shiver ran up my spine, still seeing how dark and looming it was in the Lobby and the halls. At least the bathroom lights were always on, but around the school, it was shady and cold, with barely much lighting around. I didn't get _how _Mr. "I'm too cool and important to put up with you," found his way around. It was different for me since I knew this place by heart, but he'd only been here _this night, _and there was no way he could be in five places at once without getting lost.

After I slipped quietly past the door again, I crept back into the lobby, staying as close to the walls as possible until I reached the blue-carpeted stairway that lead up to another floor raised up above, where you could look over the lobby from a 4" railing. On that floor, you have to walk down a certain hall to get to the Lounge, where all of the adults stored the best food in the school!

Especially the slow-poke tails. Hellen gave me some left-overs she brought back one time, it was the best!

Stepping into the Lounge, I flicked the lights on, but there wasn't any other figure in the room. It was dead-empty, and definitely had no signs of Hellen anywhere. "Great," I grumbled, walking to the center of the room where two half-circle couches stood, forming a ring similar to the looks of the classic Pokeball. I lazily sat down on the red one and let my head fall back.

Ugh, she wasn't in the bathroom, and she wasn't in the Lounge either. . .

_Maybe I should just go back, _I thought. It wouldn't be my fault if Hellen got caught by that jerk-face security guard. It was _her_ who decided to sneak out in the first place, not me.

For a little bit, I just stared up at the ceiling, trying to find any kind of patterns or shapes in it.

_Hmm, that part almost looks like a perfect square, _I thought.

. . . Wait a minute.

Standing up off of the couch, I tried looking closer at it. Those lines almost looked like they actually cut through the plaster. . . kind of like a door, actually.

And what was that white thing sticking out of it?

"I'm gonna need a ladder," I grumbled, glancing around, but coming to a realization. There was no way they'd have a janitors' closet _inside _of the Lounge, renob! So, I decided to go with the next best thing.

Throw stuff at it.

"Ugh, come _on _you piece of junk!" I growled, picking up a solid, thick-and-short wax candle, and throwing it at the ceiling again. God why wouldn't that stupid white thing just _fall _already? I'd already thrown my jacket, two candles, an oven pan, and some book I found on the counter. "You _better_ fall down the next thing I throw!" If only I'd brought my boots, I'd have two things to hurl!_  
_

My head darted back and forth, looking for something that I could toss that wouldn't get damaged at all. "Aha!" In an instant, I rushed over to the corner of the room where a cardboard-box the size of a microwave sat, filled with-

You guessed it.

Bubble-wrap.

"_Take this you little jackass!" _

As I _amazingly _(suckishly) threw the box, I saw it smack against the square thing and make it budge a little, before it came crashing down onto the white couch bringing some wrecked piece of paper with it. While doing a little victory-dance in my head, I went over and picked it up to see just what this thing was. Finding out it was an envelop that was _already opened, _I decided to slip my jacket back on before leaving it in the pocket. _I'll just read it later._

I turned around back to where the door was to the room, but instantly flinched.

"Gah! What the _Sawk?!"_

_"_What do you think _you're _doing here, missy?" the both of them glowered at me, standing only inches away.

Both of my lungs stopped as my throat clenched up. "H-h-how?" I stuttered, _  
_

That Ivan guy? Now he was _right _in front of me, just that. . . he was. . .he was in _two_ places at once . . . two of them,_ identical,_ standing side-by-side.

_I must've lost it! _I thought.


End file.
